Funded Research

Bridging the Research/Practice Gap: Planning for Large-scale Dissemination of a New Curriculum for Patterning and Algebra

Summary (PDF 43 KB)

Full Report (PDF 1.1 MB)
Ruth Beatty, Lakehead University
Joan Moss, OISE/University of Toronto
Catherine D. Bruce, Trent University

Background

A new approach to the teaching of patterning and algebra was integrated into the design of a new model for teacher professional development (PD).

Description

Fourteen Grade 5 teachers were invited to participate in four sessions of professional development held over the course of three months to learn and implement an experimental curriculum in patterning and algebra.

Teachers were also asked to evaluate the curriculum in terms of student learning. We were interested to investigate:

  1. whether the experimental curriculum, when taught be classroom teachers, would be lead to the same gains in student understanding as we had previously documented in our research; and,

  2. how participation in a PD program that was part of a larger research project would impact teacher’s professional learning in mathematics.

Results

Quantitative and qualitative results indicated that students made similar learning gains as had been documented in our previous studies. Results also showed teachers’ content knowledge of patterning and algebra as well as their confidence in engaging students meaningfully in mathematics also increased.

Taken together, these results suggest that our patterning and algebra curriculum could prove to be beneficial if implemented more broadly. We also conclude that grounding PD in larger research practices has the potential to positively impact teachers in terms of their mathematics teaching.

 

Top Top / Haut